Bowling Green State University made a Facebook page for the incoming Class of 2015 that has received a rush of attention. This page has turned into an invaluable forum for conversing with students who are navigating Orientation, networking with each other, or just sharing their excitement.
Looking back, the Class of 2013 page has only 474 Likes, and the subsequent Class of 2014 page saw a jump to 2,806 Likes, but the Class of 2015 page already has 2,942 Likes.
Aside from fostering interactions between future students, the Facebook page has turned into a customer service live chat. Students have been asking how to change majors, or where to buy the summer reading book.
But what's really interesting is watching the various student organizations, club sports, and fraternities and sororities post promotional messages onto the page's wall. It's like a Facebook land-grab for new students who have yet to arrive. I have to admit that I've tried my hand at tapping into this huge population of optimistic students with some mentions of the Student Wellness Network, and advertising a class that only has two students enrolled.
At this point, the population of first-year students hasn't been abused with spam too heavily, and don't seem to mind the occasional solicitation. So I say we all take advantage of this captive audience while we can! If you don't know how to post as your page to another page, read below.
To use Facebook as one of your existing pages, first go to the page that you want to post to and add the page to your page's favorites.
Next, click on the link in the right-hand navigation on your own page. As an example, here is the link to "Use Facebook as BGSU's Student Wellness Network" that I see when I visit my own student group Facebook page.
As long as your page "Likes" the page you're trying to post to, and you are using Facebook as your page, you can post on their wall in the same way you share with friends.
What I Learned: Why wait for new students to get to campus before spamming them?
